It occurred to me just the other day that it’s no wonder I found university difficult—it is shaped to a very narrow, particular way of learning, and if that isn’t how you learn, too bad. You go and sit in a fluorescent-lit, poorly-ventilated room while someone talks at you for three hours. And coursework consists of essays you work on individually, or else exams you work on individually with a very short time limit.

It’s an environment that is not even conducive to learning for many “normal” people, let alone people with disabilities.

The comments on that last article make me inarticulate with rage. I know learning disabilities and ADD/ADHD often aren’t seen are real disabilities, but they are real and I hate to see this student being treated this way.
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I agree with you about society.

Very true. I don’t need extra time on exams, but I have had many quizzes/tests in French/various sciences/etc where I just don’t know the information. (This semester, it’s been French vocab. “Je ne sais pas!!!” is my answer.) Of course, there are tests where you walk out, go do something else, and then wham! “Oh, the answer was that.”

Those comments hit all the spots – “What will she do in the “real world”?” “Why is she an athlete?”
“She’s lying.”

When I got accommodations for a test, it was actually the opposite of her issues – I couldn’t sit there waiting for everyone to finish. I took one test in a closet, since no one is allowed to leave early. So I was a class of one.

Also, I’m blushing. Be careful, I’m sure my blog is littered with ableist language.
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I also will never get why some people think getting extra time is somehow gaming the system. No amount of time in the world can make people understand material which they don’t know. Extra time simply helps people to better communicate their knowledge.

Having said that, I do support implementing more exams which are accommodating of all students regardless of paperwork. (Take-home exams, more or unlimited time for everyone, etc.) I think it helps PWD and TABs alike, and can also help people who think differently but who may not have a diagnosis, or who may not have all the requisite paperwork filled out. This should not, however, be an excuse for denying PWD who do have paperwork legitimate accommodations.
.-= Sarah´s last blog ..An Autistic By Any Other Name Part II =-.

I didn’t dare read the comments. I suppose the commenters feel it’s a given that, in a regulated society, a person must be able to finish a task within set parameters and, if that person cannot, then that person cannot perform the task.

All I can think is, what a wasteful, wasted society.

I don’t see why her being granted extra time (which is a request that has been supported by a medical professional, and not at all an unreasonable request, IMO) is such a terrible thing – my university does it. And those who are granted extra time? Get to finish their exams (except when they don’t), sure, but they don’t get As on all of them just because they had extra time. If they get As, it’s because they put in the hours and hours of studying needed to earn the As.